- GPs will be so busy trying to 'firefight' urgent cases others will be pushed back
- Professor Helen-Stokes Lampard warns that delays could be 'life-threatening'
- And complaints such as lump in breast could soon become urgent if delayed
- GP leader said she is 'profoundly worried' about impact of pressure on patients
Patients will have to wait four weeks to see their family doctor this winter, the chairman of the Royal College of GPs has warned.
Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said the delays could be 'life-threatening' for patients with possible symptoms of cancer and other illnesses.
She said GP surgeries were already 'skating on thin ice' and pressures will intensify in the coming weeks as more patients fall ill with flu and chest infections.
Professor Stokes-Lampard predicted that doctors would be so busy trying to 'firefight' the urgent cases that those with long-standing complaints could be pushed back. This could include women with a breast lump who 'may be becoming urgent' if made to wait four weeks.
The GPs' leader, who works part-time in a medical centre in Lichfield, Staffordshire, said she was 'profoundly concerned' at the effects of the pressure on surgeries for patients.
'If you've suddenly developed a lump or you've got a funny pain, you know it's not desperately urgent to see your GP today but you'd like to see a GP within a few days,' she said. 'You'd certainly like to see them within a week to ten days because you're worried.
'By the time three to four weeks has passed, the non-urgent stuff may be becoming urgent.
'With lumps or bleeding problems or things that could be signs of serious disease, my profound concern is that people will delay seeking help for things that could be life-threatening if not tackled swiftly. Extended waiting times pose a serious risk because of all those unintended consequences.
'We have a service already stretched desperately thin that doesn't have the numbers or the scale for any resilience.
'What you're left with is goodwill and professionalism being all that's left holding it together.'
Professor Stokes-Lampard said the solution was to increase the amount spent on GP services.
These receive 8 per cent of the annual NHS budget, about £9.4 billion a year, which she wants to rise to 11 per cent. Without more funding and doctors, she fears surgeries will have to slash preventative care for diabetic and heart patients.
The professor said this has helped to save thousands of lives in the last 20 to 30 years.
GP surgeries are under huge pressure from migration and the aging population, with patients becoming ill more often.
There is also a recruitment crisis with more doctors retiring early but not enough trainees coming in.
NHS bosses this year announced a five-year plan to ease the strain, including a £2.4billion cash injection and plans for pharmacists to treat some patients.
But leading GPs said this did not go far enough particularly as they are under pressure to provide appointments seven days a week.
MP Julie Cooper, Shadow Heath Minister, said: 'There is a full-scale crisis in the NHS at every level. The truth is that they are overwhelmed by ever-increasing demand.
'Add a chronic shortage of GPs and a crisis in recruitment and the result is a service at breaking point. If the Government really cares about the NHS and patient safety, they must listen to the words of the medical professionals because when it comes to patient health and well-being, they are the experts and ministers ignore their advice at our peril.'
An NHS England spokesman said: 'Of course over the Christmas and New Year period the top priority has to be medical emergencies.
'That's why GP services are on track to receive an extra £2.4billion in real terms by 2020 to build on this track record of success and expand access to appointments throughout the week.'